the kennedy space center in florida and a very busy day of news, but first straight to brooke, and we're hearing about some possible lightning strikes there. that's got to be of concern there, what's happening? >> reporter: it is most definitely a concern, edie. hello to you, and hello to everyone. look, this is not exactly what we call picture perfect conditions here at kennedy space center. i don't know if you can tell the rain has been pouring behind me sideways. in terms of that possible lightning strike, here's what we know. according to the space shuttle launch team, they are evaluating a possible lightning strike, perhaps as close as a third of a mile away from that site. you're looking at. that is launchpad 39a. so they have to look into that to see if possibly the launchpad was affect. if it was, obviously that would affect the launch time. thus far, it is still a go tomorrow morning, 11:26 a.m., but this is a huge, huge story, as everyone knows by now. this is a space shuttle we saw the first flight august 12th or

april 12th, 1921, and this is the end of an era, but when you talk to folks down here, edie, people say this isn't the end, this is the beginning of a new chapter, but the big question remains is what does the next chapter entail? talking up live here from the kennedy space center over the next couple of hours, a special guest including bob crippen, the first of two astronauts to fly up on sts 1 back in 1981. we'll talk to him of what happened then and what he thinks of this whole 30-year era and his thoughts on what's next. also, the man who built the engine of this current rocket, of the current space shuttle "atlantis," and he has some reservations about sort of the nebulous -- the nebulous outlook for manned space flight. a lot more coming at you. just heard the rain picking up again, and if we hear anything more about that possible lightning strike near that launchpad, which is just about three miles over my shoulder, we'll bring it to you live. edie, back knew you in atlanta. >> not what they want to hear or see out there. we'll join you again in a few

minutes. now a scandal that's worthy of tabloid headlines itself. journalists working for "news of the world," one of the biggest tabloid newspapers in britain are accused of hacking from the phone voice mails of everyone from movie stars to politicians, even the royal family. well, now the accusations stretch to alleged phone hacking of a murder victim and even the families of british troops killed in afghanistan and iraq. today that scandal brought down the paper itself. in a surprising turn, media mogul rupert murdoch owner of the paper order it had to shut down. this sunday is the last edition. this is the same rupert murdoch who owns news corp that has the "wall street journal," "new york post," the fox news channel. we're joined by richard quest in london. were you surprised that the murdochs decided, okay, close it? >> yes, in a word. i thought they might suspend editions. i thought they might try and brazen it out, but i think in

the last 24 hours it became clear, we had gone from celebrity phone hacking, to murdered victim hacking, to bomb victim hacking, to soldiers and dead soldiers hacking. we've now got two investigations, public inquiries that will be launched, one into the hacking and two into the payments this news corp or "news of the world" made to the police, so faced with this octopus of allegations and a cancer that was just eating away at the group, they thought the decision to cut it off. now one other thing. murdoch is trying to buy b sky b, a major british broadcaster, that deal is now teetering, teetering on the edge, and the cynics say here to save that that he's lopped off the newspaper. >> and to explain that a bit more, because i guess i'm a

little skeptical of anything in washington and anything to do with business, so when i looked at this, i thought, yeah, he's trying to buy b sky b, that is huge, big business deal for him. the problem had been that he owns and controls too much media already. by shutting this down, he makes it look better, doesn't he? >> no, no. well, sort of. look, he owns about nearly 30% of b sky b. he was buying the bit he didn't own, and the real issue is -- was there going to be too much plurality? was there going to be enough competition? forget all those issues now. they were about to be answered. this will hinge on whether news corp international, murdoch, is a fit and proper person to run another major operation in the media. that's what this is all about. now, by -- by getting rid of "news of the world" they look and they appear to have been very forceful, very decisive. they have got rid of something.

i mean, to be fair to murdoch, jim murdoch jr., james, he's described the allegations at inhuman, not place in their company, sullied the good name of the company. he says wrongdoers turned a good newsroom bad, so in an interview tonight he also says, you know, he and his father pledge to sort this mess out. i mean, the problem is, and you don't want to necessarily have schadenfreude at the misfortune of one's competitors, but the problem is just taking the united states. murdoch became a u.s. citizen so that he could buy assets in the u.s. he gave up his australian citizenship in doing so. he is relentlessly cherry picked top assets in major places. nothing wrong with that at all, absolutely not. that's the free market, but this one has blown up in his face in

the uk. >> well, as an american i think he chose america over great britain because it's a wonderful country. richard quest, thank you very much in london. 26 days until a potential default of the u.s. treasury, and here's another seen about how serious this is becoming. the nation's top elected officials held a meeting today at the white house, and they will meet again on sunday, yeah, working on the weekend. tell you more about that in a moment. first, i want to show you who was there. house speaker john boehner, along with fellow republicans eric cantor, senate minority leader mitch mcconnell, john kile, harry reid, senate majority leader, nancy pelosi and steny hoyer. once again, they will reconvene sunday. the president called the talks constructive. >> what we decided was that staffs, as well as leadership, will be working during the weekend and that i will reconvene congressional leaders

here on sunday with the expectation that at that point the parties will at least know where each other's bottom lines are. nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to, and the parties are still far apart on a wide range of issues, but, again, i thought that all the leaders here came in a spirit of compromise and a spirit of wanting to solve problems on behalf of the american people. everybody acknowledged that we have to get this done before the hard deadline of august 2nd to make sure that america does not default for the first time on its obligations, and everybody acknowledged that there's going to be pain involved politically on all sides, but our biggest obligation is to make sure that we're doing the right thing by the american people.

>> so, the president calls the talks constructive. house speaker boehner used the word productive, but both sides say no breakthrough. here's what appears to have changed though. president obama is apparently willing to agree to cuts in medicare, medicaid, social security, as part of a debt reduction deal, that is far more sweeping than what was being discussed before, but the price of that deal is higher taxes on the wealthy, and republicans say they are not doing that. at least that's what they are saying in public. >> i've also made clear that we are not going to raise taxes on the american people. we're not going to raise taxes on the very people that we expect to reinvest in our economy and to help grow jobs. >> all right. here's the inside baseball. apparently over the weekend mr. boehner signaled some give on taxes in a secret meeting with the president, so we'll -- we'll keep that under our watch, but also keep in mind that any deal between obama, boehner, obama, boehner, mcconnell needs to get through congress and congressional democrats are

sounding very nervous about potential cuts to social security. >> this morning on social security, i do not know what exactly the president is referring, to and i should be clear that congressional democrats are not going to support something that seeks to balance the budget on the backs of social security beneficiar s beneficiaries. >> so that's the concern from democrats. republicans worried about the tax increases, and some are ticked off that this deal is being worked out behind closed doors. >> are we going to have a result, a negotiated settlement dropped in our lap, what, a couple days before, you know, this -- this deadline date in is that was going to happen? is that really how the financial fate of america is going to be decided? i mean, personally i find that process disgusting. >> a few more words from him about that process, that's senator ron johnson, republican of wisconsin, and he does not like the closed-door talks about trillions and trillions of

dollars. he will be my guest in just a short time from now as part of the coverage of the debt talks. now coming up next, i'll take you back to the kennedy space center in florida. nervous eyes watching that weather, hoping that the sky will clear and they can have a takeoff. brooke baldwin is standing by with that. we'll be right back. starts with arthritis pain... that's two pills before the first bell. [ bell rings ] it's time for recess... and more pills. afternoon art starts and so does her knee pain, that's two more pills. almost done, but hang on... her doctor recommended aleve because it can relieve pain all day with just two pills. this is lisa... who switched to aleve and fewer pills for a day free of pain. and get the all day pain relief of aleve in liquid gels. [ tires squeal ]

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welcome back. i'm edie hill at cnn headquarters in atlanta. it's t-minus 21 hours and counting down until the last shuttle launch, weather permitting. right now nasa is evaluating whether a possible lightning strike near the launchpad could cause problems to the shuttle or any of its ground equipment.

nasty storm is drenching this area today, and that's also hampering the efforts to check for damage. brooke baldwin is at the kennedy space center for that final launch. how exciting that you get to be there. set the scene for us. >> i'll tell you what, edie hill. this is a dream assignment for me. people who watch the show, they know i went to space camp 20 years ago. i always wanted to be an astronaut, to be covering the 135th launch of a space shuttle is just really a dream come true. so many stories to tell down here between the 1 million spectators, you heard me right, 1 million people. the space coast tourism bureau anticipating coming down to attend this launch. the crew of four going up in "atlantis." the weather, as you mentioned and the possible lightning strike at the launchpad behind me, but one part of the story that we have to tell is the 7,000 or so men and women who are going to be or have been laid off because of this 30-year era ending. i met a couple. a man actually broke down in tears telling me a story. take a look.

through the decades brenda and jerry mulberry marked major milestones with the launches of the space shuttle. >> we watched the launch of the sts 1 together from the titan complex when i was 22 years old. >> reporter: a match made in space heaven. >> yeah. >> reporter: from one of their first dates to brenda opening up her own t-shirt shot. space shirts sits two miles down the road from kennedy space center, and right now her business is booming. but with the launch of the 135th and final space shuttle mission, jerry is marking a different kind of memory. >> i started in april of '81. >> reporter: '81, and so you worked from '81 until -- >> until april of this year. with the program shutting down, you know, everybody got cut back and our department got cut back a little earlier than some of the others, so it was time to move on. >> reporter: 30 years to the

month jerry was laid off. he's one of 7,000 workers at kennedy space center alone who are already jobless or soon will be. it's eerily familiar to the last time this space coast saw manned space flight at a standstill. that was after the last apollo mission in 1975. six years before the launch of the first space shuttle. this time around jerry says the job outlook is better. >> there's a barrier which is going to build a business jet right at melbourne airport. they are going to do their final assembly there, so it's a little different now. >> reporter: while this area is steeped in space, tourism officials say space tourism makes up just 5% of all the tourism here now. beaches, cruise ships and the visitors senator will still bring in the tourists, but that doesn't take the sting out for someone who just lost his dream job. what's worse, the loss of the

space shuttle era, or the loss of nasa family? >> hmm, good question. i think it really goes together. there's a big tradition out there that you get a picture signed, and, you know, you get that, and that's it, so it does bother you. it's like when you give your badge in for that last time. it gets to you. >> reporter: for now jerry is helping his wife sell shirts and souvenirs to tourists in town from all around the world. no matter what happens, it will be a bittersweet chapter for a couple who has watched and hoped and loved 134 times, and now they wait for their next mission. >> so we're going to keep printing, and he's going to go find another job and, you know, i mean, i love him to death, but he's a rocket scientist, you

know, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to print t-shirts so -- >> reporter: i love that line. best of luck to jerry and brenda. now as i mentioned in the piece, their first date, one of their first dates was watching sts 1 back in april of '81 take off. that particular space shuttle, there were only two astronauts inside, and i goat speak to one of them. bob crippen will be on set with me here in a matter of minutes. i'll ask him what it feel like sitting inside a shuttle at 3gs, lifting off. that it feels like also seating her 30 years later and this program is over, so a couple of questions for him. it's an interview you won't want to miss. bob crippen right here live in the newsroom. edie? >> one other little tidbit about the folks you talked to. i read about when they met, and apparently he walked up to her, i think it was at a bar, and he said hey there, i'm a rocket scientist, and she said that was all it took, so very cute

couple. brooke, thank you very much. we're looking forward to the interview. see you in just a couple of minutes. now also, you don't want to miss our special coverage of the shuttle's final mission. it begins tomorrow morning at 10:00 eastern right here on cnn. now, watch this. her release date has been calculated as july 13th, 2011. >> that's right. casey anthony will walk free in just six days. not everyone thinks she deserves it. up next we'll hear from the prosecutor, a juror and the judge. plus, a mexican man convicted of raping and killing a girl in texas is set to die in less than four hours. a few question that he's guilty, but president obama wants it stopped. why he thinks executing humberto garcia could hurt other americans. that's coming up.

casey anthony didn't get out of jail today, but she will be released on next wednesday. a florida judge sentenced anthony to the maximum for lying to authorities, four separate convictions, one year for each. anthony's attorneys wanted the four convictions reduced to one, but the judge would have none of it, saying all four lies hindered law enforcement's search for caylee. >> this search for her went on from july through december over several months trying to find

caylee marie anthony, four distinct separate lies. >> well, if you were like me, i thought, okay, four years. how is she getting out next week? here's how the law works. she's getting out for time already served and behavior. she already got off on the bigger charges involved in the death of her 2-year-old daughter caylee. >> caylee! caylee! caylee! caylee! caylee. >> those crowds of trial watchers are still outside the orlando courtroom, and they are not happy. >> justice for caylee! she was left in a swamp. nobody there to defend her, and we're out here to say caylee, we remember you. we will stand up for you, even when the jury failed you! >> so what about the jury? well, they say the prosecution failed. listen to what juror jennifer ford told abc. >> there wasn't enough evidence.

there wasn't anything strong enough to say exactly -- i don't think anyone in america could tell us exactly how she died. if you put even just the 12 jurors in one room with a piece of paper write down how caylee died, nobody knows. we'd all be guessing. we have no idea. >> so she says the burden of proof was not met, but prosecutor jeff ashton had this to say on cnn's sister network hln. >> it was testified that medically she could not say the duct tape caused death because it's a skeleton, you can't say that. whether a jury could conclude it from reasoning the evidence is a different matter. i guess that was the biggest factor. i mean, i, you know, i just -- you know, you become involved in a case and you believe in it, and -- and i really would love for someone to tell me how that duct tape got this. >> another jury is now speaking out, juror number 2 wants to remain anonymous with you told

this to the "st. petersburg times" and i'm quoting. everybody agreed if we were going on feelings and emotions she was done. i swear to god i wish we had more evidence to put her away, i truly do, but it wasn't there, end of the quote. and now this for casey anthony. since it was her lies that created that huge investigation into caylee's disappearance, the state is saying she should foot the bill for the investigation. amount to be determined later. and you don't want to miss this. a special nancy grace show called "justice for caylee," start night 9:00 eastern on our sister network, hln. about throw and a half hours and counting, and that is how much longer that man, a convicted rapist and murderer has to live. will texas governor rick perry stop the execution? president obama says he needs to, and by doing that saving a killer, the president said other americans will benefit. cnn's jill doherty is on this

story. an update up next.

a convicted murderer scheduled to be excused in texas within hours is at the center of an international legal and dipmatic dispute. the man is a mexican, and while few deny he's guilty, when he was arrested, and even during his trial, he was never told he had the right to contact the mexican embassy which might have provided more legal i'd, and that right is guaranteed under a binding international treaty. texas governor rick perry is refusing to stop the execution set for tonight at 6:00 central time. the president and the secretary of state say he must because if not they fear americans may suffer. jill doherty is following the story, so, jill, can you explain

their concerns, the broader ones? >> reporter: yeah, edie, really, it's a complicated case, but what it boils down to is what you were alluding to right at the end of that which is the department of state, the administration would argue that if this man, and he is obviously guilty, but if he is executed without having had the ability early on to consult with a representative from his embassy which is required, according to an international treaty that the united states signed, then an american citizen traveling abroad might, if they were arrested for something, might end up in the same circumstance. that other country might say hey, you didn't recognize the rights of our citizens. therefore, we don't have to recognize the rights of your citizens, so it's really -- that's the argument from the government. >> and there have been cases where americans have been arrested overseas, and the government clearly thinks that this is something that, you know, could be a tit for tat.

if they don't honor this, they will have trouble down the road. >> reporter: exactly. and, you know, to make this even more complicated, right now at this very moment, the supreme court has to decide this because there's an appeal from the lawyers for mr. leal, and they have to decide whether they will grant a stay of execution. they will rule after the governor decides. they have -- the court has to decide stay of execution, or would they decide that broader issue, which really gets into the question of does a state have to accept what the president says, which is you really do have to carry out this international treaty. you really have to enforce it. it's part of what the united states is doing as a country, so it's complicated so the time is ticking away, and it may be, you know, possibly, that this man may be excut ted but the

principle might go on. the congress might rule and congress might pass a law. a lot of possibilities, but not too much time left for this man. >> all right. jill doherty, thank you very much. now, watch this. >> america's first space shuttle. >> the first stage, eight and a half minutes while you're under thrust, goes back so fast, and on my first flight my eyes were like saucers. >> as nasa counts down to the end of the space shuttle era, broeck baldwin talks to the pilot of the very first space shuttle in 1981. that's coming up next. plus, you remember this. i do, too. you practiced over and over, tracing those letters to learn cursive. now one state says that's a waste of time. they are kicking it out of the curriculum. so is it still an important skill to learn? we'll talk about that coming up.

welcome back. i'm e.d. hill at cnn headquarters in atlanta. excitement is building as nasa is set to end an era for the half shuttle flight, weather permitting, and right now that's a big if. right now nasa is evaluating whether lightning hit near the launchpad a short time ago. if it did, it could possibly cause some problems for the shuttle and ground equipment. they have to ascertain whether or not it did hit.

our brooke baldwin is at the kennedy space center where "atlantis" is set to lift off tomorrow morning, and she has a very special guest with her, former astronaut robert "bob" crippen. brooke? >> reporter: yes, e.d., this is so exciting. bob crippen sitting to my left. if you don't know who this man, is let me tell you, this guy along with john young, the first two astronauts ever to go up in the space shuttle. it was april 12th, 1981. the current commander of the "atlantis" was in high school watching the launch. how do you make it feel? >> makes me feel a little old, but it was an exciting time, and glad we have people like chris picking up the pole and carrying it on. >> indeed he is, hopefully tomorrow morning, but do i want to ask you. sitting here, you helped launch this entire program 30 years ago. you knew this day would come, the end of the space shuttle era would arrive, but mixed

emotions? >> well, at that time, of course, i wasn't focusing on the end. i was focusing on the beginning. >> but sitting here now? >> sitting here now it's a bittersweet time for me. i'm really proud of what the shuttle is accomplish. we did have two terrible tragedies, but i believe when history looks back on it in its totality they will say, hey, that was a great vehicle. the fact that we're standing it down now without the capability to put up our people ourselves and having depend on other countries to do that really does concern me. >> i want to talk about your concerns in a minute, but i want to take you back to 1981 and doing my reading about this particular launch i know it's the first launch. normally nasa, they will put some space shuttle or space vehicles up there and test it, right? you were the test flight. >> right. >> you were the guinea pigs, if you will, of the first space shuttle. were you nervous knowing that at all or just totally excited? >> totally excited. john and i had worked on that vehicle from its inception. we knew it very well. we knew the people that had

built it, and john and i spent a lot of time talking and touching the technologieses. we had confidence in it. you know, we know that there was a possibility of a potential problem, but we thought we could get it back down on the ground safely. we did talk about whether we should fly it unmanned. it would have been difficult to do and john and i said hey, we have a higher chance of success if we're on board, and management agreed with that. >> and it was successful, thank goodness. >> it was. you were on the shuttle and you had ejection seats. did you think you'd be ejecting out of the space shuttle? >> well, they were there in case they were needed. truthfully they were for of a placebo, because if you lock at the tail of the solid rocket fire coming out of there, if you ejected through ascent, you would have gone through that and been very crispy. however, if we had run into a

problem on entry, short on capability to get to the runway or something, they could have saved us from that, but thank goodness that didn't happen. we had the ejection seats on the first four flights. >> so many out there, including myself, yearning to be an astronaut, and if you can just put me in your position, during the launch. i know you're pulling 3gs. what does that physically feel like? do you feel it in your chest? >> well, john and i were both trained naval aviators, pulled a lot of gs in our life so more like 6 or 7 many times so 3gs really isn't that much. however, when the solid rockets light off, you know you're headed some place. you hope it's in the right direction. being a navy pilot, it's a little bit like a catapult coming off an aircraft carrier. there's a lot of shaking going on. it's very noisy, but two minutes you get rid of the solids and it's very quiet, as calm and you

and i sitting here but the g-load goes back up again to 3gs until you reach orbit. it's an exciting ride. >> i tried pulling 3.2 the other day, didn't make it. 3 is okay. 1.2, not so good. the nasa chief last week said, look, it's not a matter of if but when we put men and women on the moon, back on the moon, and mars and asteroids. what about the when? when do you think -- what's the time line? when should we be going back up? >> well, i want to say let's go beyond earth orbit, the moon, asteroids, mars evently, and i believe we ought to be focused on doing that. truthfully where we're at now, and i'll tell charlie this, it's not very clear to me. we're talking about building a capsule similar to what we used in apollo, and there's some talk about a heavy lift launch vehicle that would allow us to

get beyond low earth orbit, but it's not very definitive. i believe we need a very definite goal in order to have the program move forward. it can only move forward at the rate at which we fund it though. >> mm-hmm. so you think funding is the big issue? >> funding is a big issue and the desire to do it. >> desire. what about looking ahead to tomorrow? we heard about possible -- they are evaluating possibly this lightning strike from the site of the launchpad, it's supposed, to fingers crossed, 11:26 tomorrow morning, and, you know, that question is sort of pervasive through all the conversations out here. do you think it's going to happen? when do you think it will happen? do you have any intel, mr. crippen? do you know. >> as far as the lightning strike, i do know they have lots of instrumentation out at the pad. they can go look at that to see whether they think the vehicle needs to go through more testing to make sure it didn't impact it. the big if in my opinion is the weather. there's a high probability of

rain. you can't fly the shuttle through rain. some probability of lightning. don't want to get involved with that, but i've seen the weather forecast to be a lot worse, and it all of a sudden it clears and we'd launch. the weather is going to be whatever the weather is going to be. >> says a man who was delayed 0 years ago three years. >> not from weather but technical issues. >> three years, and the "atlantis" will eventually get up as well. >> absolutely. >> bob crippen, what a pleasure, seriously. such a pleasure to meet you, and e.d., back into you. >> that was fascinating. thank you, brooke. we'll check back in with brooke at the top of the hour. now our special coverage of the shuttle's final mission begins tomorrow morning at 10:00 eastern so you can watch that very historic event right here on cnn. now you think you're fed up with washington? watch this. >> what does the financial future of america rest on? some secret talks? is that really how the financial fate of america is going to be decided? i mean, personally i find that

process disgusting. >> well, strong words today from rope can senator ron johnson as the budget battle continues. senator johnson joins me next. back pain. ty then i tried this. it's salonpas. this is the relief i've been looking for. salonpas has 2 powerful pain fighting ingredients that work for up to 12 hours. and my pharmacist told me it's the only otc pain patch approved for sale using the same rigorous clinical testing that's required for prescription pain medications. proven. powerful. safe. salonpas.

well, want to turn now to the debt reduction talks and the potential of the default by the united states treasury. high-level talks at the white house today, president obama and congressional leaders from both

parties. afterwards the president said the meeting was constructive and that they will meet again on sunday. joining us now from washington is senator ron johnson, republican of wisconsin. yeah, we all heard you right before this, and you said those closed-door meetings are disgusting. why? >> well, first of all, the fact that this president has not got engaged in the process until just a couple of weeks ago is very disappointing. let's face it. the president and the senate democrats have backed america up against a wall. it shouldn't have been that way. we should have had a very orderly process where we were looking at a serious proposal months ago, and now we've got what, 30 days before the hard deadline that treasury secretary geitner has laid out for us, and now we're finally kind of getting serious about this in the fact of the matter is i ran because we are bankrupting america, and i want to be involved in this process, and i'm concerned that there's going to be these -- like you say, secret negotiations behind closed doors, far from the view of the american public and all of a sudden that result is going

to be dumped in our laps. we'll have no time to talk about it. we're talking about a $3.7 trillion budget. that takes time to go through. i'm an accountant and you don't do that overnight so, yeah, it is disgusting. >> i've covered politics for a long time, and i get the sense that in the past leadership always assumed whatever they decided to do, the deals they make, everybody else will back them up, go along with them. is that necessarily the case there, or are they making a big assumption that if you get these guys in the room and you've got from your side, you've got mcconnell and kyl and cantor, when they walk out and say, okay, that's the deal. everyone will naturally say sounds good to me? >> first of all, i want to defend our leadership. we've actually been putting forward positive proposals. the house passed a budget. it's the senate leadership, the democrat in the senate and this administration that has not come to the table in good faith, not laid any kind of plan on the table, so, again, there's a definite difference here. republicans want to solve the problem. we've been doing this in good

faith. i don't believe the democrats have been operating in good faith. >> but, i mean, there's a basic difference of opinion on how you solve problems. i think everybody, both sides want to solve the problem, but -- but democrats feel that you -- you do that by increasing revenues and that you can call it a tax increase or revenue. some sort of new word that they are using for it, enhanced revenues perhaps, and republicans think, no, you don't do that. you give more stimulation to -- to businesses, small businesses, people that can hire, so -- so is there really any center ground to come to? >> well, first of all, i've always thought this was a two-step process, but i realize the democrats always want to raise taxes. that's their solution. republicans want to grow the economy. we want to put people back to work. we want to get the government off the backs of small businesses so they can actually hire, but, you know, to me the first thing we have to do, the first step, is to instill and enact a very strong fiscal

discipline. that's why we came out and proposed this cut, cap and balance approach. pretty reasonable. you cut baseline spending and statutorily put caps in place, but we realize congress will eventually weasel out of the caps so the center piece of this thing is a constitutional amendment to limit the size of government, produce a balanced budget, and we just introduced a piece of legislation, 21 senate democrats and more sponsors over the weekend that basically said we're willing to increase the debt ceiling as long as we fix the problem. fixing the problem is sending a constitutional amendment to the states. let's let the people decide. >> it's a two-step process you're talking about, and a lot of folks i've discussed this with are saying that, that balanced budget amendment could be the key to them agreeing to other things. senator johnson -- >> absolutely. >> appreciate you spending time with us. >> thank you. >> thanks for having me on, e.d. >> all right. third grade will never be the same again. something we all agonized and practiced over and over is

obsolete. indiana schools say cursive righting, learning to sign your own signature is a waste of time. why? we'll find out next. wherever, w. one log in lets you monitor all of your balances and transfer between accounts, so your money can move as fast as you do. check out your portfolio, track the market with live updates. and execute trades anywhere and anytime the inspiration hits you. even deposit checks right from your phone. just take a picture, hit deposit and you're done. open an account today and put schwab mobile to work for you.

my mom's always complaining that no one writes thank-you notes anymore. if you're wondering that's true, look no further. indiana is the latest state saying kids don't niece to learn

cursive. fpd, typing will be taught. we have an organizational change consultant, and it's the change part of us that's interesting. sam, thanks for being with us. >> thanks for having me. >> is cursive needed? or do the kids miss out on something by not having that skill? >> it's a very interesting issue. in a way i would characterize it as both a tiny and a gigantic issue of significance of here's what i mean by that. it's tiny. on one level it's clear that cursive is less relevant and useful i think than a generation ago, that we're moving toward greater digital use and technology all the time. and we obviously have a lot bigger fish to fry when it comes to how to improve or schools. it's gigantic precisely because of the shift i think it signifies. there are no more entrenched

symbols of what is and what has been than symbols we associate with schooling. that relates to the teacher up front with the kids in rows to learning to cursive in third grade. the problem is we're so attached to the symbols, it becomes so much harder to start having the conversations we need to have, which is less about what school is or has been, and more about what school in the future ought to be, in which kay the use of cursive is a relatively trivial matter. >> when i looked at this, i thought, okay, if you've got to get rid of something, why wouldn't it be presenting in cursive, it's much faster, so if you have to drop something because you want to spend time teaching typing, why not teach cursive and drop printing? >> it's funny. first of all it's clear that this issue touches a nerve.

i let folks know through facebook and twitter that i would be talking about this, and i don't think i've had more facebook comments. a friend of my made a good point which i think is the best argument. first of all, when kids get is in second grade, they're excited about it, it feels like a grownup skill. it's important for small motor coordinatation. by thirty are third or fourth grade they're likely to revert to printing, but in the larger issue, whether or not we teach kids cursive is of far less significance than how we shake off the old cultural assumptions about what schooling is and start to let go of certain things that may be extremely familiar but may not bed as useful going forward, so we can make rooms for new ideas, new ways of thinks about how to engage kids in learning that can bring us closer to what schooling ought to be going forward. >> when i look at cursive, like

someone as signature, it just seems to be kind of a symbol of who they are. you see some people do the loopy things on the end of their signature, or they've got a very rushed signature, or it's perfect. it just seems to be very personal. without that signature -- and plus, you know, you sign it on everything. your driver's license, mortgages, any kind of legal document. they don't say print out your name, they say sign your name, signature. >> well, and clearly the need to both communicate the old-fashioned way with pen and paper, and the need to express one's self and kind of carve out one's own identity through that type of expression, that's not going anywhere. i don't think we're going to a point where it will no longer be relevant. the question is, how relevant does it remain? now, for example, there are contracts that can be done entirely over e-mail without a signature. it's not long, i think, before we start to have this

conversation on cnn about how could we possibly get rid of paper currency. but these are the types of tectonic shifts that we are all in the midst of. we are in the midst of a changeover from industrial age to democratic age, and that will bring with it some unfamiliarity. sam chaltain, thank you very much. >> thank you. several liberal house democrats are furious. they don't szalay a finger on medicare, medicaid, i'll speak to one of those democrats coming up. (screams) when an investment lacks discipline, it's never this obvious. introducing investment discipline etfs from russell. visit russelletfs.com r a prospectus, containing the investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and other information.

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welcome back. candy crowley joins us with the latest from the cnn political ticker. >> we all heard the president talk about how he was impressed with the general atmosphere of the debt ceiling meetings today, thought it was constructive, et cetera, et cetera, so to put the brake on any high hopes, jay carney is also saying, look, there was no specific breakthrough here today. also on our ticker, you will find the story of john boehner, the speaker, and his assessment. he told his caucus he thinks we'll know in the next couple days whether a deal is even possible. he gives it a 50/50% chance. while it sounds good, and they are talking, the fact of the

matter is neither side in this, if you consider the size of speaker boehner and the white house sound all that optimistic that they'll get anything done any time soon, and to go on the 2012 campaign trail for a minute, a top adviser to tim pawlenty, who of course is a 2012 republican candidate, is apologizing for suggesting that michele bachmann has sex appeal on her side. vin weber, a lot of us know him here, also said when asked about bachmann as a candidate said she has hometown appeal, because she is from iowa. she's not ideological appeal, and i hate to say it but she's got a little sex appeal, too. since that time weber has thought better of that, and apologizes, and said he was a supporter of her when she ran for congre. but nonetheless i think we're still kind of walking through

untested grounds, certainly when it comes to female candidates there always seems to be something like this that comes up that a male has to take back. this is the first one i think of the season. >> a lot of egg shells. candy crowley, thank you very much. >> thanks. now, watch this. >> reporter: after 30 years of tryumph, tragedy and american tradition, the very last space shuttle is scheduled to launch from just on the other side of that water, some three miles away from us here, in hopefully a matter of hours. i'm brooke baldwin. the countdown is on. brooke, the countdown is on in washington, as fears grow, lawmakers battle over whether to raise the limit on america's credit card. are they close to a deal? i'm eady hill, the news starts now. a convicted siller is accepted to be executed, but --

new fallout and new allegations against the high-profile newspaper. this time it involves the family of soldiers who died in war. >> i thought we were in a dark place, and i didn't think anybody could make it darker. now a media empire could be at stake. and landslides, mudslides, torrent are referenceal rain, you'll see the video as chaos escalates. welcome back. the final space shuttle launch ever nasa is evaluating whether a possible lightning strike could call problems. it's unclear whether that's the same one that's causing concern. but it's a nasty storm there.

it's hampering their efforts to check for damage. "atlantis's" crew of four hopes to live off. that mission will cap the 30-year-old shuttle program. and brooke baldwin is at kennedy space center for that launch. as we said, weather could be a big factor. brooke has been braving pretty bad weather. brooke? >> reporter: yeah, e.d., not just my, but many, many people there, probably ten people in front of me here on this platform. we have dozens other here, part of our cnn crew krfrg this monumentous occasion. yeah, that lightning was quite a spectacle in the sky. thus far we're still a go, and still wondering if this launchpad, launchpad 39-a, if it was damaged by that possible lightning strike. we know crews are evaluatic that. we'll keep you posted, but, you

know, all we talk about this era of the space shuttle began april 12th, 1981, with sts-1, and here we are some 30 years later with the launch of "atlantis," this is squlim maser, president of pratt & whitney rocket dyne. it's quite an accomplishment. par for the course down here, working with folks like this. i do want to talk about what is next. a lot of people are wondering, okay, this is the end of the space shuttle. when will we see astronauts back up there? do you have the answer to that, sir? >> no, i do not. i wish i did. we know we have to rely on the russians to put u.s. astronauts in space. >> with the soyuz. >> with the soyuz, which has

launched many people into space, but certainly we want our own u.s. system. so nasa has a general plan, but they haven't developed the capability yet. >> so right now it's a waiting game. we've heard from charlie bolden in saying it's not an if, but when, we send people back up into space, to deep space, as they caught it. what is it, though, that the community here and across the country, what is it they're waiting on? what's the timeline? if we don't get that announcement, what's at stake? >> right. there's a few aspects here. one is, is space shuttle was designed to put up international space station. it took the people up to assemble them. that mission is complete. now the theory and the model is, now that that's complete, we should be able to take supplies and crew back and forth much more cost effectively with privately owned systems. so the idea behind that, then,

is that will save nasa a lot of money. they can redirect their fences to exploring back beyond earth orbiting again around the moon, asteroids and mars. they're back on the plan, but we don't know what we're doing to explore beyond. it's not one or the other. they're linked intimately. >> so what's at stake, if the timeline is not set out expeditiously? >> well, what's going on is, we originally were on a plan to replace a shuttle with a program called constellation. that was canceled february 1st, 2010. so it's been 17 months and we've been going headlong into the shuttle's last launch. we have a lot of critical skills and capability to know how to do human space flight. we have liquid rocket engines, we've been part of the program for 50 years, since the beginning, almost every single astronaut has flown on our

propulsion systems, if we don't moved on to the next thing, we'll lose those critical skills. >> you're afraid of the a-team down here walking away and losing valuable people from this industry if we have to wait too long. but down here the past couple days, a lot of people say, look, brooke, there was this dry spell, if you will, if you know your history, from '75, the final apollo launch to '81, sts-1, a whole span of six years where we weren't sending anyone up. how is this different? >> this is actually quite a bit different. what was going on from what i call the apollo to -- industry knew we could sustain the -- we knee we would have lower budgets. but we need whap we were going to work on. we were working a three-year overlap. >> before apollo even ended.

>> so a gap in launch capable, but we knew what we were working on. here, we knew what the funding was going on for, but we don't know what we'll be working on. i think that's the more precarious situation. >> what about just in terms of the launch? i understand you will be -- let me get this right, the launch control center, whenever this thing goes off. what is that and what will you be doing? >> it turns out nasa has major contracts with major system owners. we're the space shuttle main engines. there's the orbiter, the external tanks, the leads from the top companies have to all go in one room. we have no responsibilities whatsoever near as i can tell, because all our people are doing the hard work. however, if something big comes up and we need to be consulted, the administrator knows where we are. >> you will be there in charlie needs to pick up the red phone and call you?

>> yeah, i seriously don't expect that to happen. >> we're still hoping for 11:26 tomorrow morning. jim maser, thank you. >> thank you. >> if we hear anything differently in terms of the shuttle launch, dream assignment for me. we'll let you know. back to you. >> thanks, brooke. coming up she'll give us a look behind the scenes. and a reminder our special coverage begins at 10:00 eastern right here on cnn. now, hours from now a quitted killer is scheduled to be executed in texas. the oobama administration is asking the state to call it off, because the lives of americans, they say, could be at risk. that's ahead. plus celebrities, the royal family, murder victims, even the grieving families of soldiers killed in war, all apparently targeted by journalists accused of hacking into their voicemails. we'll find out why one of the

world's most famous newspapers is shuttening down. richard quest is next.

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now, a scandal worthy of tabloid headlines itself. they're accused of hacking phone voicemails of everyone. but when it capes to light that families of british soldiers killed in action were also hacked, that was the final straw. today the scandal brought down the paper itself. in a surprising turn, rupert murdoch ordered the paper shut down. this sunday is the last edition. he owns newscorporation.

richard quest joins us now. richard, what happened? >> reporter: i think in the last 24 hours, it became clear we had gone from celebrity phone hacking to murdered vich hacking, to bomb victim hacking, to soldiers and dead soldiers hacking. we've now got two public inquiries that will be launched, one into the hacking, and two into the payments that "news of the world" made to the police faced with this october pull of allegations and a cancer that was just eating away at the group the decision to cut it off. now, mu dork is trying to buy a major british broadcaster. that deal is now teetering, teetering on the edge, and the

cynics here say it's to save that that he as lopped off the newspaper. >> i guess i'm skeptical of anything to do in washington and anything to do with business. i looked at it, yeah, that's a big business deal for him. the problem is people said he controls too much media already. by shutting this down, he makes it look better, doesn't he? >> no. look, he owns about nearly 30% of b sky b. he was buying the bit he didn't own. the real issue is wall there too much plurality, and it will hinge on whether they're a fit and proper person to run another major operations in the media. that's what this is all about.

now, by getting rid of "news of the world" they look and they appear to have been very forceful, very decisive. they've got rid of something. to be fair to murdoch, his 'explained it as inhuman, no place in the company, sullied the name of the company. he says wrongdoers turned a good newsroom bad. in an interview tonight, he also says he and his father are pledged to sort this message out. i mean, the problem is -- and you don't want this misfortune of one's competitors, but the problem is, just taking the understand, murdoch became a u.s. citizen so he can buy assets in the u.s. he gave up his australians citizenship. he's relentlessly cherry-picked

top assets in major places. nothing wrong with that at all, absolutely not, that's the free market, but this one has blown up in his face. >> all right. thank you very much, richard. in just about 2 1/2 hours and counting, that's how much a man, a mexican national and accused murderer may have to live, unless rick perry delays his execution. president obama wants it stop, so does secretary of state hillary clinton. jill dougherty is digging in. that's coming up. we're the wassman family from skagway, alaska. livin' so far out and not havin' a bank within 90 miles... i was runnin' into dead ends. happened to come across quicken loans online. [ chris ] walked over to the computer... i was able to see all the paperwork. while i was on the phone, i was able to go through the checklist. [ kathy ] they were quick and efficient. quicken loans is definitely engineered to amaze. they were just really there for us.

a convicted nurleder is at

the center of an international legal and diplomatic dispute. the man is mexican action and while few deny he's guilty, when he was arrested and during his trial, he was never told he had the right to contact the mexican consulate which could have provided more legal aid. that right is guaranteed under a binding international treaty. texas governor rick perry is refusing to stop the execution set for tonight at 6:00 central. the president and the secretary of state says he must. if know, they fear americans may suffer. jill dougherty, can you explain the concern for folks? >> we've been talking about this over at the state department. they would say and the administer would say that the united states signed this international treaty, and so even though this man is obviously guilty, he did have a right to talk to representatives from his embassy to get advice and counsel. if the united states does not honor that and the state of

texas doesn't honor it. if an american citizen were traveling abroad, committed a crime, ended up getting arrested, potential that government could say, well, you did not recognize the rights of our citizens, therefore we won't recognize the rights of your citizens. that's the simplest argument. >> if this is an international treaty was signed, why doesn't the president have the right to say, i'm sorry, i'm stepping in and you're going to delay it? isms that's an excellent question. that is what the supreme court might be deciding, because there's a separate track here. the lawyers for this man, mr. leal, have got to the supreme court and say we have a stay of execution. we also want you to look at this broader issue. it's really a states' rights issue. does the president have a right to tell a state that they have to enforce an international treaty, that that president has signed on to? that's a question that was decided a while ago in another

case. but now there are different circumstances. the congress might pass a law that would make it more possible to put them in the federal courts. so there's a lot of legal maneuvering right now as the time ticks away. >> i certainly understand the states' rights issue with this, but you said they already had one case, but it was slightly different. what did they determine in that one? was it the international law that ruled or the state law? >> the state law, that the president of the united states could not tell a state what to do. but there's a hitch. if the congress were to come up with a law and in this case there is a pending bill from senator leahy, which says that federal courts would be able to hear these appeals, then you would have a track where the federal courts could deal with this, and there would be appeals. and that would actually change

the equation. so we'll have to see how that happens. ultimately that might be resolved even after mr. leal could be executed. we'll have to see. >> jill dougherty, thank you very much. there are major developments in the sexual assault case against dominique strauss-kahn. his lawyers are making a strongly worlded demand. we'll tell you what that is, next. plus, take a look at this video. it seems normal, right? well, police say that a guy stole that picasso painting. now after a manhunt, there's a break in the case. that's next. priceline for a sneak peek at recent winning hotel bids to find where you can save up to 60% on hotels. * we'll even email you other people's winning bids, so you'll know what price to name. *á with new hotel bid alerts, from priceline. ♪ you are my sunshine ♪ my only sunshine

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in georgia a special board of education meeting is taking place to deal with a scandal that rocked the public school system. a state investigation found as many as 178 teachers and principals at 44 schools were involved. criminal charges are possible. atlanta's interim superintendent demanded for every school system -- in new york, french financier dominique strauss-kahn says he will not accept any plea bargain. the statement made a day after his attorneys met with prosecutors for nearly two hours. no one saying if a plea deal was offered. kahn is the former head of the international monetary fund, who is accused of -- the prosecution acknowledges there are

credibility issues with the accuser. now to the netherlands, at least one person is dead, 14 injured after par of that stadium room collapse. that stadium is home to a dutch soccer team. crews were expanding the seating capacity when a roof section gave way early this morning. the injured are believed to be construction workers. there's unbelievable flooding in china, a week of heavy rain causing havoc. you can see the downpours are causing massive mudslides. state media reports at least eight people are dead, and more than 170,000 people have fled their homes. there are big storms rolling across colorado. yesterday dumping hail up to 1 why are inches in diameter in places. rain caused minor flooding in there. conditions in colorado are unusually moist dao to a cold front that spun a pretty disorganized funnel cloud. take a look at this. that man is carries what appears

to be an ordinary picture frame. that is a picasso worth $200,000. the is it drawing was recovered after being stolen from a local art gallery. police have arrested a 30-year-old man in connection with that theft. bail is set at $5 million. coming up, find out why some bank executives may have to give back their salaries, big-time cash. also, the buzz is rising, as the royal couple gets ready to arrive right here in america. first out, some of the things they'll be doing. and the final shuttle launch could be in jeopardy. we'll take you live to florida. reporter roulette is next. hmmm,. but you can do this. bengay pain relief + massage with penetrating nubs plus the powerful pain relief of bengay. love the nubs!

the government will be able to take back money from executives. wait until you hear how. the duke and duchess of cambridge will dethrone celebrities when they hit l.a., and it's a wet outlook for the launch of the final shuttle. let's start with alison kosik at the new york stock exchange. explain this executive pay clause back. >> this comes out of the dodd/frank legislation, it allows the s.e.c. to collection back pay from executives as what it sees as substantial irresponsible.

lawmakers have been trying to rein in executive pay after they blamed it -- blamed this incentive-based compensation on inspiring more risk taking at huge basics, banks called too big to fail. ed? e.d.? >> i heard there could be help for homeowners. >> the government will give you a break, breathing room until you find a job, so you would be eligible -- you could be eligible if you have an fha or mha loan, those are the modification lorenz that the they had offered after the recession. those loans gave mortgage relief for four months. what's changing now, what was announced is that it's going to be extended, actually, to 12 months. this is known as forbearance. it's an agreement that the lender and the borrower, you and the bank come to. the gold is to avoid

foreclosure. whatever that agreement is will vary depending on your individual financial situation. in extreme cases, you may not have to make a mortgage payment at all, but at the end of that 12 months, e.d., you have to go back under review and come back to a different agreement. >> that's because the administration feels that solidifying the housing market is just essential, otherwise each month they get a flood of new homes being put on the market. irges exactly the the housing market is just not recovering, so the government is stepping in, try trying to help people stay in their homes. you have housing prices being depressed, because you have more open properties on the market. >> alison, thank you very much. next on reporter roulette, the duke and duchess of cambridge are wrapping up their canadian trip. max foster is in calgary. >> a very colorful finale when

they arrive here in calgary they'll be presented with white hates. later on you'll see them dressed up in jeans and cowboy boots, and they'll see a few demonstrations of the stampede, as it's noun here, a big annual event. you'll see them watching lassoing, bull riding and they'll come a barrel into the back of a wagon to start a race. tomorrow they will launch the stampede parade, so that will be a great picture event. after that, they head to colorado and los angeles, a very, very busy, long weekend for the royal couple there. you'll see prince william playing polo, and the duchess presenting the winner with a trophy. she'll be hoping it's her husband. on saturday night, a big red carpet event, with full frocks and rocks for the duchess, so that will be a real highlight of this tour. >> frocks and rocks. i'm assuming even though he plays polo he won't be doing any

bull riding, so we'll be watching to see what they happens in l.a. engineers are evaluating chad myers is at kennedy space center. it's been a very rainy pre-launch day. chad? >> it has been raining, lightning, thunder all day, even a very loud day at times. we would see the lightning striking in the distance. count to 5, that's one mile away, count to 10, that's two miles away. a number of them were very, very close to where that shuttle is sitting there. at about 12:40 and 30 seconds, the lightning was striking. they think it was one one third of a mile of the launchpad itself. why does that matter? it doesn't hit the shuttle, but there are fine, fine electronics all around this pad, and light nink can go to other places than

just where it hits. it can travel along the ground or a wire is they have to check it out, and they could go out to check it, because it's still thundering. you can still have fun, many things are still inside i would say 95% of the day it's either dribbled or drizled. it's been one miserable day. i guess we're glad and happy today was not a launch day. there would be a zero percent chance of launching in this weather. still about a 30% chance that the weather is good enough for others. what you're looking at there, that's the mockup of the shuttle, that you can come into, walk in, walk around, seer where the astronauts sit it's a great exhibit there. probably tomorrow with the lines, they may be more like two hours waiting in line, but

getting back to my train of thought, there's one chance we launch this tomorrow. that launch is, e.d., if it rains all night long, and then by morning, the rain stops, but there's a fog bank around. that fog will stop the sun from heating the ground. the fog burns away, and then we have a window literally of sunshine, and the sunshine is what we want to get this shuttle off. there are so many bad things that can happen with one cumulus or cirrus cloud, you can't fly through ice crystals. i don't think tomorrow will be the day, but we have saturday and sunday before they lose the priority on the launchpad. we're not going anywhere before this thing goes. i think eventually with all these people, they have to launch this thing. i just spoke to somebody from auckland, new zealand. they spent $6,000 u.s. to get here and watch the shuttle launch for the last time. this is all they're going to do. they didn't come to disney world or sea world.

they came to cape canaveral to watch the launch, and spent $6,000 to do it. >> and you're there for a lot less and still the fun. chad myers, thank you very much. that's today's reporter roulette. brooke baldwin is part of that cnn crew in place for tomorrow's launch. what does it take to pull off that huge event? she'll take you behind the scenes. take a look. >> reporter: this is the shot you're used to seeing over our shoulders. you have the countdown clock, which, by the way, is much bigger in person. just over the water, about 3 miles an hour, you can see "atlantis" off in the distance, but this is part of the story you don't normally get to see. first you have all these different satellite trucks. we rely on satellites in pace to broadcast to you, and also that is our platform. this is where our special will be head, myself, anderson, john zarrello, katy, and my interrupt

producer walk in. this is quite an event. some cnn terminology, spev. >> spev is special events. they're the black ops. they're our s.e.a.l. team 6. when we need it done now, they get you things like air conditioning outside on a platfo platform. >> because it's hot here. >> it's like washington, d.c., but with gators. >> there are gators under our trailers. speaking of the trailers, let's show them inside a spev trailer. ta-da, this is one of two spev trailer. leslie is one of the queens of spev, on the phone trying to set something up, busy, busy, busy, but this is sort of the heart of our operation. we have all these different shots that you will ultimately be seeing on television. behind you is richie phillips. how long have you been with cnn?

>> 25th year now. >> reporter: 25 tl jeer. >> quite happy. >> reporter: you have rearranged many a vacation because of launches. >> right. >> reporter: we talk so much about how this is bittersweet for the astronauts, but is it at all sad for you? >> oh, yeah. we have a sense of adventure ourselves, too. we like this stuff. this is a big deal, so yeah, we're feels it ourselves, too. >> i think we should show them the set. >> this is the final shot. these are all the cameras up on this live platform. this is where you see me, and you'll see the rest of us sitting for potential the next couple days. see you on tv. thank you, brooke. now, watch this. >> is that really how the financial fate of america is going to be decided? i mean, personally i find that

process disgusting. that is senator ron johnson, blasting what he calls the secret talks president obama and congressional leaders are having behind closed doors. i got to speak with senator johnson last hour. up next i'll speak with the democrat who is pretty angry with president obama and making demands. congressman paul gra havela is standing by. [ male announcer ] great tasting tap water can now come from any faucet anywhere. introducing the brita bottle with the filter inside.

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let me update you again on the reduction talks. high-level talks at the white house today, president obama and congressional leaders from both parties met. afterwards the president said the meeting was constructive. mr. obama has reportedly agreed to put on the table to get a sweeping deal on debt reduction. they need to be taken off the table, and second revenue increases must a meaningful part of any agreement. >> joining us is that member of congress, raul grijalva. thank you for being with us. >> thank you for the invite, e.d., i appreciate it. >> the meeting behind closed

doors with the leadership, is that the right way to go about this? >> i think there's so much at mistake and so much political postu posturing that more transparency is necessary, to be discussing i think it concerns many ofs. i think that's why enough of us are signing on to a her to the president that if those items, social security, medicaid and medicare are part of the benefit cuts to the american people, we're not supporting any deal. i agree that all have been talk ago lot, but they don't give many specifics. how exactly are you going to do

that? exactly how much will they give? i understand that you really want personal time with the president, that more of the progressive democrats want to get together for him. do you think that will happen? >> i hope so. we have yet to meet with the president or his economic advisers relative to what our contributions are are? >> what happened you tell him? i know you would say leave alode medicare, medicaid, social security, you -- >> we also believe there's reductions, but in areas that are important. we've talked about the subsidies to big oil and big gag, the billions that could bring back to the treasury, that could be used to reductions. we've talked about rolling back those tax cuts. we're talking about buying

pharmaceuticals in bulk, and you could strengthen it. we've talked about a transition fee for large movement of financials in the stock market. we've put on the table including getting us out of these two wars that are costing us billions with no end in sight. so we feel there are specifics that need to be talked about. so there are -- social security's on the block, medicare is on the block and medicaid is on the block. many of us felt it's time to push back for the leadership, and to some extent, we cannot support a deal like that. it's out of balance. >> i have heard rumblings that republican leaders may agreed to

talk about the subsidies and other things, but still there's such a huge gap between, you know, what people on one side or the other one. it seems insurmountable. do you have much hope by sunday they'll come up with any more specifics? as the president said it's constructive or productive. boehner said productive, but no dee dee tails. do you think they'll get any? >> i'm not overly optimistic that a magic bullet would appear that will get us out of this default crisis that the republicans have created. i think what the american people want to know is what specific items are we talking about. you know, things come forward, and they go away, and so i think by us saying we don't want social security on the table, we don't want medicaid or medicare, we are actually responding to what 60% of the american people in the latest poll have said --

leave those off the table. i think this is more than enough that we can look at to gen operate revenue and make reductions in our budget, including the military that isn't even talk about. >> congressman raul grijalva, thank you for your time. >> thank you for the invite. i appreciate it. it may be the summer of shouting in washington, but love is in the air as well. a senator gets married and an aide to house speaker john boehner just proposed at a very interesting place. i've got the pictures. plus one of tim pawlenty's aides is apologizing for a comment he made about michele bachmann. it involves sex appeal. joe johns has the scoop. political pop is next. ays are bk and better than ever! right now, go to priceline for a sneak peek at recent winning hotel bids to find where you can save up to 60% on hotels. * we'll even email you other people's winning bids, so you'll know what price to name. *á with new hotel bid alerts, from priceline. but afraid you can't afford it? well, look how much insurance many people can

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a summer romance is in the air in washington these days. joe johns is here with political pop. so what's going on? >> hey, e.d., possibly one of the biggest big-deal weddings to date this summer happened over the united states. vice president of the united states went all the way out to montana. it was the chairman of the powerful senate commit imply max baucus tying the knot with former aide melanie haynes. she's a former child abuse prosecutor. not only did she once work for the senator as a state director, she's yes, there has been a bit of controversy about this relationship, because a couple years back haynes was one of the

several people senator baucus recommended for a united states attorney's job. she didn't get it. is a big-deal wedding i think it's safe to call. what are the pictures of this unique proposal? >> this is michael steele, no not the former republican national committee chairman, another one. one of the most -- isn't that nice? >> yes, that's so sweet. >> who knew he's got a romantic side. he proposed to mary catherine covert on what is known as the speaker's balcony. this is a spot on the second floor of the capitol looking directly down the national mall with an unobstructed view of the fourth of july fireworks. pretty good idea, actually. i talked to him today. he said they've been dating for a couple years and thought thinking about proposing right away memorial day, so here we

are, washington is for lovers. >> fantastic. i also heard there was a pawlenty aide who had to eat a little crow over some comments. >> well, you know, there has been so much focus on the little gaffs that bachmann has made, a lot of politicians do this, but we've seen someone saying something about michele bachmann and having to clean it up later, this time vin weber, a top adviser to tim pawlenty's campaign, apologized for making a reference to michele bachmann's sex appeal during an interview with "the hill" newspaper. what weber said is she has hometown appeal, idea logically appeal, and quote, i hate to say it, but she's got a little sex appeal, too. and of course sex appeal is the dangerous part, because it raises questions about whether a man running for president would get tagged with that same kind

of label. weber said he made a mistake, k5u8d himself a bachmann supporter in her congressional bids, and essentially apologized, said he wasn't speaking on behalf of the campaign. >> i would assume not. >> he's a former cochair of pawlenty's p.a.c., so there you go. >> joe johns, thank you. >> you bet. now, watch this -- >> her release date has been calculated as july 13th, 2011. >> check your calendar again, that's right, casey anthony will walk free in just six days. not everyone thinks she deserves it. you want next we hear from a prosecutor, a jury and the judge. sunny hostin is next. the stronger the rapids, the more we loved it.

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lets go... haha. if you have high cholesterol, you may be at increased risk of heart attack and stroke. don't kid yourself. talk to your doctor about your risk and about lipitor. casey anthony will walk out of a florida jail in six days a free woman. sunny hostin is on the case.

now, the judge sentenced her to four years in jail for lying to authorities, so how does four years shrink to six days? >> it does sound kind of weird, doesn't it? she did get four years in prison, but she's been there for a long time, e.d. she's been in prison for almost three years. she gets credit for good time served. 1043 days' credit. when you do the calculations, and you put in state guidelines and good behavior, she'll get about six days in prison. she has been in prison for quite some time already. >> it seemed the judge was trying to make his own statement. i'm sure he knew it would end up being six days, but he was making a statement of his own, wasn't he? >> i think that's right. she was convicted of misdemeanors, and typically people don't spend four years in prison, even if convicted of four misdemeanors. the penalty is up to one year in prison, up to $1,000 in fines.

she got the max he could give her, up to four years and $4,000. absolutely he did as much as he could with this sentence. >> so next wednesday she gets out. let's look at what's going on outside the courtroom. look at this [ chanting "caylee" ] >> they're not happy. let's listen to this. >> are you worried about her safety? >> i am. i am. and i'm afraid for her, and i don't think it's fair. >> how do you see casey's future? >> i think casey can -- could have been anything she wanted in this world, and i think there are still plenty of things that casey can do in life, and i think casey can be a productive member of society.

>> so sunny, what's your take on that? is he right on that one? >> i'm not so sure. she's certainly the most hated woman right now. i think the prime exact of what could happen to her is what happened to o.j. simpson. when he goat out, people wouldn't even serve him in restaurants. so there will be a lot of informal sanctions waged against casey anthony, and i'm not sure they'll be able to do whatever she wants to do. there will be a lot of people ostracizing her. >> you had a chance to interview jeff ashton on "american morning." let's listen to what he had to say. >> what about the relationship between you and jose baez. i've been in the courtroom. did you like each other? did you like him? >> i don't -- i don't think we'll be vacationing together anytime in the near future. >> so a contentious

relationship, right? >> that's right. he was very honest. he said there were a lot of things that happened in the precursors that happened to this trial. this is three years in the making. while lawyers are sometimes friends, more often than they're they're adversaries. they were like gladiators in the courtroom. so certainly this was a very contentious relationship that may have gotten a bit personal. >> real quick, as a mom i was kind of scared by this. there's some word she might want to have another child, casey? >> isn't that incredible in i'm a mom, too, and most mothers cringed when they heard this. apparently she did write a her to another inmate, and she talked about her dream of being pregnant again. she also talked about the possibility of adopting another child. so certainly i think it's bone-chilling given the fact that many people believe she was complicit in th